I second Dooms statment. If you say its paper cost causing the price hike....then why does that go to the digital costs.

I don't know their price structure, but it can't be as bad as diamonds.

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Either he was feeding us all a line of BS from the start or similar costs are mirrored in some way in the production and distribution of a digital book.* None of that changes the fact that customers, myself included, feel that a digital product should be cheaper.

That's why I loved to know what the costs are that are associated with preparing the book for a digital market. Unfortunately, no one is telling. Just like how no one is reporting actual unit sales on digital books.

*At least, I imagine that to be the company line.

You made it look like I said that

In all seriousness, that's exactly what I think about it. I distribute that shit all day for free. It's called file sharing.

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Do not bore me with such trite cliches. For I have you in my clutches, and should I choose, I could snuff out your insignificant lives in an instant.

So it's the cost of printing x number of copies, paying for ink, paper and etc. Paying to box them up and ship them to numerous locations throughout the US (and other parts). Versus uploading one digital copy, paying to host it and all your other issues on a domain and paying for a good chunk of bandwidth so people can download it hassle free. I'd say it's pretty obvious which is cheaper, and by a lot.

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No one is saying it needs to be .50 of even .99, but 1.99 is a reasonable pricepoint for same day digital content dropping down to .99 6 mo or so out.

The savings from 1) distribution costs and 2) giving a chunk to the retailer if they set up to distribute it themselves would make it still produce more money for them then the 3.99 price point.

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Not to mention how many MORE copies they could sell provided they market themselves smartly and can get the iTunes generation to tune in.

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Do not bore me with such trite cliches. For I have you in my clutches, and should I choose, I could snuff out your insignificant lives in an instant.

^ yep

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I don't want anyone to mistake me. I am not saying I think digital comic books should cost the same as the physical copy. What I am wondering is if Brubaker's assertion that $0.99 isn't a sustainable price then what is? Personally I would feel comfortable paying $1.99 for a digital book. When the iPad first hit all the comics were at that price. I figured that that was just going to be the standard price but when publishers started releasing day & date books we all saw those prices rise.

I don't really believe it's pure profit for the publishers to go digital. That doesn't mention that both Comixology and Apple (when buying through iOS devices) both take their cut. Not entirely dissimilar to the amount that the LCS and Diamond both take, I'd imagine. So, how much is Marvel saving by not having to print and ship physical books? Not enough to price them at $0.99 apparently - or so we are lead to believe.